I'm a big fan of buy and hold investing and believe it is the best way for investors to grow their wealth.
To demonstrate how successful it can be, I like to pick out a number of popular ASX shares to see how much a single $20,000 investment 10 years ago would be worth today.
This time around I have picked out the three ASX shares that are listed below:
BWP Trust (ASX: BWP)
You might not expect to generate market-beating returns by investing in a commercial property company, but it does happen. Over the last 10 years the BWP share price has smashed the market return. This has been thanks to its growing portfolio of warehouses which are predominantly leased to hardware giant Bunnings Warehouse. A combination of inorganic and organic growth through rental increases has supported consistent earnings and distribution growth since 2010. This has led to BWP's shares providing investors with an average total return of 12.7% per annum. This means a $20,000 investment 10 years ago would have grown to be worth $66,100 today.
SEEK Limited (ASX: SEK)
The SEEK share price has been a market beater over the last 10 years. This has been driven by the seismic shift to online job listings, its domination of the ANZ market, and its successful international expansion. The latter has particularly been the case in China with its lucrative Zhaopin business. Over the last few years this business has grown to become a significant contributor to its overall earnings. All in all, this has led to SEEK shares generating an average total return of 15.8% per annum since this time in 2010. This would have turned a $20,000 into $86,700 today.
Technology One Limited (ASX: TNE)
The Technology One share price has been a consistently strong performer over the last 10 years thanks to its transformation from a small enterprise solutions company to one of the biggest players in the ANZ region. This has underpinned very strong earnings growth over the last decade and a 24.8% average total annual return over the period. This means a $20,000 investment in its shares in 2010 would be worth $183,000 today.
